WORKING WITH 'WILD ROSE I': LEAN PRODUCTION IN A GREENFIELD MILL

The Alberta Newsprint Company mill in Whitecourt, Alberta, with its state-of-the-art paper machine dubbed Wild Rose I' is one of the most efficient newsprint mills in North America. This paper documents the systematic drive by the Alberta Newsprint Company to achieve lean production by the use of flexible work practices in a greenfield mill, which began production in 1990. The analysis begins by examining the way in which the workforce for the new mill was recruited as the first step to creating a flexible workplace. Information from questionnaires completed by 96 employees, who represent approximately half the total labour force, and semi-structured interviews with managers and employees, is used to describe the extent to which the anc mill has achieved various forms of labour flexibility. The nature and extent of these new work arrangements are compared among departments within the mill. Finally, we explore the recent restructuring of wages in the mill. These events illustrate some of the unanticipated consequences arising from the implementation of lean production in a remote geographical setting.     

Bumped from the shuttle fleet: Why didn't Enterprise fly in space?

Although it has hardly been noted in historical or popular literature, NASA's surprising decision not to prepare the first space shuttle Enterprise for spaceflight deserves attention as a significant event in early shuttle history. The decision came at a stressful juncture when the space shuttle program was transitioning from research and development to production and operations; it was an early signal of a looming crisis in the program and also an indication of early shuttle-era space policy. This essay examines the changing status of Enterprise in the little-noticed period 1976 through 1978. Three main factors influenced the fate of Enterprise : (1) the evolution of shuttle engineering and design, (2) funding and schedule pressures on the shuttle program, and (3) shuttle fleet size policy. Decisions in these areas came together in late 1977, with the result that, soon after its debut, Enterprise lost its place in the shuttle fleet and never flew in space.     

Millet and sauce: The uses and functions of querns among the Minyanka (Mali)

The central role of grinding activities in the dietary practices of traditional agricultural populations can be approached from an ethnoarchaeological point of view. The comparison of ethnographic references raises the question whether the function and the socioeconomic context in which grinding slabs are used allow to assess issues related to conclusions drawn from archaeological contexts. Our discussion is based on the analysis of the manufacturing of grinding slabs, their use cycles and their social status in several Minyanka villages (Mali), providing useful references when examining the way in which archaeologists explain and interpret technological, functional and spatial observations. The typological and technical evolution and variability of querns results from a combination of several factors determined by the available raw materials, the skill of shaping techniques, the organisation of manufacturing and the transference of the function of grinding tools. But these factors alone cannot explain the encountered range of variation. Our study thus emphasises the very role of cultural aspects within these temporal and regional developments, and the impossibility of dissociating the use of a quern from its socio-economic context.     

A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental investigation of the findspot of an Iron Age bog body from Oldcroghan,Co. Offaly,Ireland

In 2003, the remains of an Early Iron Age bog body, known as ‘Oldcroghan Man’, were recovered during the cutting of a drainage ditch in a bog in the Irish Midlands. Only some fingernails and a withe fragment remained undisturbed in situ in the drain face, providing the sole evidence for the original position of the body. A detailed reconstruction of the depositional context of the body has been undertaken through multi-proxy analyses of a peat monolith collected at the findspot. The palynological record shows that the surrounding area was the focus of intensive human activity during the Later Bronze Age, but was largely abandoned during the Bronze Age–Iron transition in the mid-first millennium BC. In the mid-4th century BC, a bog pool developed at the site, evidenced in the stratigraphic, plant macrofossil, testate amoebae and coleopteran records. Plant macrofossil and pollen analysis of peat samples associated with the fingernails suggests that the body was deposited in this pool most likely during the 3rd century BC. The absence of carrion beetle fauna points to complete submergence of the body within the pool. Deposition occurred shortly before or around the time that the surrounding area again became the focus of woodland clearance, as seen in the extended pollen record from the peat monolith. This period corresponds to the Early Iron Age in Ireland, during which renewed cultural connections with Britain and continental Europe can be seen in the archaeological record and widespread forest clearance is recorded in pollen records from across Ireland. The palaeoenvironmental results indicate, therefore, that the demise of Oldcroghan Man took place at a pivotal time of socio-economic and perhaps political change.     

Placing the second generation: A case study of Toronto

We examine the social mobility of the second generation in the Toronto metropolitan area by analyzing whether the adult children of immigrants live in more affluent and desirable neighbourhoods than the first generation. Using 2016 census microdata, we compare the social characteristics of census tracts where immigrants and the second and third-plus (3+) generations concentrate. The index of dissimilarity indicates the degree of residential separation among generations and for five ethno-racial second-generation groups: Chinese, South Asian, Black, Southern European, and Northern and Western European. The empirical findings show that the neighbourhoods where the first generation is over-represented are less affluent than those where the second and 3+ generations concentrate, with the largest improvements in social status occurring between the first and second generations. Although they frequently live in more distant suburban neighbourhoods than the first generation, the second generation still tends to live in inner and outer suburbs more than the exurban 3+ generation. For the second generation, the degree of residential concentration varies across ethno-racial groups with persistent segregation marking the residential locations of racial minorities. The findings highlight the variegated geographies and social mobility of the second generation in Canada's largest metropolitan area.     

Robert Newall's Primary Record of the Prehistoric Ship Graffiti at Hal Tarxien,Malta: new thoughts on their significance

Recent research on now indistinct ship graffiti in the Third Temple at Hal Tarxien led to discovery of a full‐size record made 50 years ago. Correspondence elucidates contemporary interpretation of the context. Colonization of the island from Sicily c.5000 BC probably involved large flotation devices similar to those identified on the lowest tier of graffiti. A Neolithic date for some of the images finds support with the identification of a raft supporting the cult statue located in the same part of the temple.     

Sinus and meningeal vessel pattern changes induced by artificial cranial deformation: A pilot study

This study explores the changes in sinus and meningeal vessel patterns caused by various types of artificial cranial deformation. Endocranial casts were prepared from six crania exhibiting one of three types of deformation (lambdoid, parallelo-fronto-occipital and fronto-vertico-occipital), as well as from 15 undeformed crania. Vessel and sulcus patterns of each cranium were analysed and these patterns included depth of impressions, size and number of vessels, and directional pathways of vessels. Comparisons were made within and between the different deformation types. The results indicated that deformation has an effect upon the pattern, shape and depth of vessel impressions. Vessels tended to be flattened in the areas directly affected by cranial deformation, and there was often compensatory enlargement of other vessels. Further, three of the six artificially deformed crania exhibited enlarged occipital/marginal sinuses, suggesting that this trait is developmentally plastic and greatly influenced by environmental factors.     

Quotidian geographies: placing feminism

We discuss Susan Hanson's contributions to geography during the 1970s and 1980s through the lens of quotidian geographies, geographies of the everyday. Beginning from our own experiences as graduate students and new faculty members, we describe the social and theoretical context in which Susan published her initial studies of men's and women's activity patterns that examined gender differences in travel behavior and their origins in men's and women's different household responsibilities. We also review her success peopling the discipline of geography. We conclude that human geography has benefited from the incorporation of feminist theory and methods as Susan predicted.     

Oral History and Public Memories

How does oral history, based as it is on individual memory,affect beliefs about the history of a whole community? Is oralhistory compelling enough to influence an interpretation ofa community's history when powerful groups insist on a differentinterpretation? Hamilton and Shopes have chosen a collectionof articles that present a range of perspectives, a diversityof problems, and a variety of specific sites in which to testanswers to these questions. Oral history interviews often turnup surprises, and this book is full of surprises. In the first section, David Neufield begins his article, "ParksCanada, the Commemoration of Canada, and the Northern AboriginalOral